Looking to get past beginner

[Amy Kemp]

So I have been slowly working my way through the beer and wine making process. I started several years back with my father in law making blueberry wine. I have been making very drinkable fruit wine that turns out in under a year. Not hard to sit and figure out what worked and what doesn’t.
Fast forward. I have a batch of Cab Sav from a kit (don’t recall the name) that has been sitting for just over two years. Taste great, clean, crisp, nice mouth feel, no off flavors.
After that batch I attempted my first fresh juice kit. I followed a similar process, but I lacked a bigger grasp. That first kit was a Malbec, which was racked 3 times with Camden tablet addition for each racking. It’s been in the bottle for about 4 months after bulk aging for 1 year. I tried it the other day and man, it didn’t taste good. The taste was off, it had a almost acidic taste and left an unpleasant lingering feel.
I’m concerned because now I’m into another juice go around, and I feel like I’m
Missing more of the process. Any good books out there, or inexpensive testing systems I should be considering? Can I do ph/ta adjustments after primary fermentation. So many questions and almost don’t even know what to start asking.

— I did have three beers before writing this, please excuse my grammatical errors.

 

[chicken]

On my third beer now, we'll see what errors I make, lol.

Did you taste it before you bottled it? If so, how does it compare now? My first thought is that 4 months is not very long in the bottle, and perhaps the taste will improve over time.

We usually bottle a year or more after the grapes are crushed (most of my experience is with fresh grapes, but I would assume it would be about the same with fresh juice), and try to wait a year after bottling to start drinking. We have definitely noticed that wines that taste rather sharp at bottling time taste much smoother after being in the bottle about a year.

 

[Seamonkey84]

I’ve read Some grape wines are fairly acidic, but can be fixed a bit by cold crashing it. When you drop the wine close to freezing for about a month, the malic acid in grapes will crystallize

 

[Blacksmith1]

The best time to make your adjustments are at bottling. Once it's at least close to what you want as far as sweet, acids, tannins, etc. you can bottle it.
@RPh_Guy can tell you far more than I can about reducing the acidic properties of brews.

 

[madscientist451]

The best time to make your adjustments are at bottling.

I've got several winemaking books and they all say its much better to make adjustments before fermentation. If you are going to make adjustments, you need to know the PH, T/A and Brix.
I'm a lazy winemaker, don't have a PH meter and just let the wine be what it it will be and make taste adjustments with blending.
To the OP: Go to your local discount liquor store and get a gallon of Merlot for about $15. Merlot is usually a low acid wine (to my taste) and see if you can make your wine acceptable by blending it. Start with a 50/50 mix and then reduce the Merlot to what works. If that helps, get a bucket of Merlot juice, ferment that and in a year or so you can enjoy both wines together.
Also, letting the wine age some more might help, its hard to say without knowing what the numbers are right now.

 

[RPh_Guy]

There are several ways to reduce acidity or perception of acidity in a wine:

1. Blending or dilution.
2. Adding a base to precipitate some of the acid. Potassium carbonate is a good choice for this.
3. Malolactic fermentation. This might not be an option depending on the sulfite level and pH.
4. Increase the sweetness (useful only for sweet wines) or tannins.
5. Adjust the mineral profile. Adding some calcium chloride may be helpful.

FYI Options 2 & 3 take time and can't be done at bottling. Also, tannins generally need several weeks to age before bottling.

 

[bernardsmith]

I’ve read Some grape wines are fairly acidic, but can be fixed a bit by cold crashing it. When you drop the wine close to freezing for about a month, the malic acid in grapes will crystallize

apples have malic. Grapes have tartaric and it's the tartaric acid that tends to crystalize at colder temperatures (I think that that is the source of cream of tartar)

 

[Seamonkey84]

D’OH! Yes I got the two mixed up.

 

[Coffee49]

So I have been slowly working my way through the beer and wine making process. I started several years back with my father in law making blueberry wine. I have been making very drinkable fruit wine that turns out in under a year. Not hard to sit and figure out what worked and what doesn’t.
Fast forward. I have a batch of Cab Sav from a kit (don’t recall the name) that has been sitting for just over two years. Taste great, clean, crisp, nice mouth feel, no off flavors.
After that batch I attempted my first fresh juice kit. I followed a similar process, but I lacked a bigger grasp. That first kit was a Malbec, which was racked 3 times with Camden tablet addition for each racking. It’s been in the bottle for about 4 months after bulk aging for 1 year. I tried it the other day and man, it didn’t taste good. The taste was off, it had a almost acidic taste and left an unpleasant lingering feel.
I’m concerned because now I’m into another juice go around, and I feel like I’m
Missing more of the process. Any good books out there, or inexpensive testing systems I should be considering? Can I do ph/ta adjustments after primary fermentation. So many questions and almost don’t even know what to start asking.

— I did have three beers before writing this, please excuse my grammatical errors.

Wine making is a hobby that can get ones goat if persistence is not exercised. A good wine maker has 10 years under their belt. With the cost of a good chenin Blanc or Merlot 15 to 25 bucks the persistence pays off.

 

[bracconiere]

— I did have three beers before writing this, please excuse my grammatical errors.

On my third beer now, we'll see what errors I make, lol.

LOL, never made wine myself...just thought i'd share the fact you guys just cracked me up! (and i am drinking cider right now, which i assure you didn't age for years!)